When the Organization Feels Like Ours: Monetary and Non-Monetary Incentives, Collective Psychological Ownership and Job Satisfaction in the Social Work Setting

Incentive arrangements are widely employed to promote workforce stability in social work, yet limited research has systematically examined how different types of incentives are associated with job satisfaction and through what mechanisms these associations are manifested. This study aims to investigate the relationships between monetary and non-monetary incentive practices and social workers’ job satisfaction, with particular attention to the mediating roles of shared decision-making and shared hardship endurance within collective psychological ownership. The analytical sample comprises 6,296 social workers from 58 cities. Mediation analyses with bootstrapped confidence intervals indicate that both monetary and non-monetary incentives are positively associated with job satisfaction, with non-monetary incentives demonstrating stronger associations. In addition, both shared decision-making and shared hardship endurance function as significant mediating pathways linking incentive practices with job satisfaction, with the shared hardship endurance dimension exhibiting a more pronounced mediating role. For social work agencies, the findings suggest combining financial rewards with professional development and team-building opportunities. Regular staff consultations and peer-support arrangements may further support shared decision-making and collective responses to organizational difficulties.